Chapter 3
The fluorescent light buzzed above Eddy’s head, as the steady tick-tock of the grandfather clock patiently counted out the minutes. The steam from the Chamomile Tea fogged Eddy’s glasses, as she sipped from her vintage mug. She sat at the Formica table, with her feet swinging above the kitchen’s black and white checkered floor. She started to speak, and then her voice fell silent again. “Humph,” she said. “What if I, Oh, how silly!” Pushing herself up from the chair, she began to pace with one hand in her pocket and the other in active gestures. She had lost track of time. The streetlights were on, encroaching upon the darkness that crowded the corners of the house. Reluctantly, she turned on the living room lamp. “It costs thirty-six cents a day to burn that bulb. I need to be careful and not waste.”
The bird remained on the porch in its cage. “That bird is probably infested with lice. I’m not touching it, gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.” Feeling a shiver run down her spine, she gyrated around the kitchen as if trying to shake off the mere thought of it. She shrugged her shoulders, sighed, and then reached into her pocket for her cigarettes. “But I can’t just leave it sitting on the porch. What would the neighbors think?” She retrieved a cigarette, held her hair back with her free hand, and then lit the cigarette on the stove. The tabby cat circled around her ankle. “Why are you wasting time with that nonsense? Why don’t you earn your keep around here and get that mouse that’s holed up in the cupboard? That mouse is eating me out of house and home.” She reached into the cabinet and pulled out a box of cereal. The corner of the box looked as if it had been placed in a paper shredder. She held the box out for the cat to inspect, “Would you look at this?” The cat lifted her tail, turned, and walked away. “You never did listen to me.” Eddy threw the cereal into the trash. “Nope, you were Fred’s little ‘Princess.’ Ha! What a name for a cat. He spoiled you rotten. I would’ve named you a proper cat name, so you wouldn’t think that you were too good to catch a mouse.”
Following the cat into the living room, Eddy eyed the RCA radio. “Best invention since sliced bread,” she said. She squirted germicide on the top of the radio and then rubbed the sleeve of her duster over the surface. Patting the top of the console she said, “Good as the day we bought it back in 1950. Only needs a few minutes to let them tubes warm up, and then I’ll listen to the ten o’clock news.”
The news reporter announced, “An elderly woman was robbed at gunpoint this evening in the 4700 block of South Kingshighway. The suspect allegedly shot a bystander and then escaped on foot. The shooting victim is listed in serious condition at an area hospital. The suspect is described as. . . . ” Eddy turned the radio off abruptly. “That’s not far from here,” she felt her stomach drop. “They’re a bunch of nuts, people killing each other for no good reason. What’s the world coming to? Why, just last week there was that mugging two blocks over, and that poor old man was killed.” Eddy checked to make sure the front and back doors were locked. She walked into the bathroom and turned the night light on. She shook her head. “The world’s just not safe anymore . .”
Turning on the porch light, she peeked through the curtains to see if there were any suspicious characters lurking about. She strained her eyes to see past the spilled light and into the shadows.
Satisfied that she was safe, at least for the time being, she let the curtains fall back in place but not before noticing that the bird was still there. It flapped its injured wing frantically.
“People are evil now-a-days. They could have wired that bird with explosives. Yep, that’s their plan. They’d watch the old lady go out to get it, and then they would sit back and laugh like hyenas. All a big joke for those crazies, but I’m not a fool.” She removed her handkerchief from her pocket and cleaned her glasses.
She remembered Karen’s smiling face from earlier that day. “But she doesn’t look like one of those mean kids that they talked about on the news. Maybe . . . ” she walked through the kitchen and into the utility room. She picked up the mop handle and inspected it for size and sturdiness. “Maybe I could slide the mop handle through one side of the cage and out the other side. Then that way I wouldn’t have to touch it. You know, people can get sick from handling birds.”
After unbolting the triple-latched door, she looked around the corner. She gazed out into the darkness for suspicious characters. Grabbing her binoculars, she looked down both sides of the street. She didn’t see anyone. “I have to hurry,” she muttered.
Eddy fumbled with the latex gloves and then grabbed the mop handle with both hands. She ran out the front door with a ferocity that would frighten any would-be attacker. With the skill of a seasoned whaler, she harpooned the birdcage and then kicked the door wide open. While holding the cage at an angle, she made a dash for the mudroom in the back of the house, and then dropped the cage like it was on fire.
She sprinted for the front door and then secured all of its bolts. Bracing herself against the door, she panted. “I . . .” She bent over with both hands on her knees, inhaling deeply.“. . . Still . . .” She threw her head back and gasped for air.“ . . . got. . . it . . . ,” she wheezed.
After sliding down the back of the door, she sat for several minutes. It certainly took longer to recover than she expected. Her legs felt as wobbly as gelatin, and her arms felt like they had been put through a ringer. Finally, she gathered her strength and made her way to the bathroom. “I better wash my hands, just in case I got some germs on me.” Lathering up with the antibiotic soap, she gave her hands a thorough scrubbing. Then she stopped by the mudroom in the back of the house.
The bird seemed dazed as it limped around the cage. She noticed the birdseed which had spilled on the bottom of its enclosure, but she estimated that there was still enough left in the container to last through the night. After filling the watering can, she stuck the spout through the cage and topped off the water bowl. The cat meowed in a long, pitiful protest as she walked around the cage. “You better leave that bird alone, and you two better not keep me awake tonight. A lady needs her beauty sleep,” she said, with just a trace of giddiness in her voice. She threw a tarp over the bird’s cage and then grabbed the hand sanitizer from the kitchen table and applied it up to and including the elbows. Then she heard someone at the front door.
A Dove for Eddy Page 3